New Delhi :
The Congress released what it calls a "chargesheet" against the NDA
(National Democratic Alliance) rule to highlight the "failure" of
Vajpayee government. Titled "Vajpayee Government : A saga of sins,
scams and shame", the 55-page chargesheet accused the NDA Government
of "miserable failure" on all fronts including national security,
employment and agriculture and questioned the "feel good" factor
being projected by the ruling coalition.

The Congress
virtually ruled out the idea of fielding joint Opposition candidates
against the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime
Minister, L K Advani, the HRD Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, and
other top leaders of the NDA.

The Congress
has retained 60 members of the last Lok Sabha in its first list of
candidates, released here, for 75 seats across 21 States and Union
Territories. And, only in the case of Shyama Charan Shukla has a
sitting member's seat been changed with the senior of the Shukla
brothers being shifted, apparently on his request, to Raipur from
Mahasumand where his sibling and former Congressman, V C Shukla, is
likely to contest on a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) ticket.

The Congress
has fielded four senior leaders, including former finance ministers,
Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee, to pick holes in the BJP-led
government's "India Shining" campaign. Besides the former finance
ministers, Natwar Singh and Arjun Singh have been assigned to lead
the charge against the NDA. Releasing the chargesheet, senior party
leader Pranab Mukherjee and Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit,
wondered as to how anyone could talk of "India shining" when in
Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh alone 2009 farmers had
committed suicide because of indebtedness.

The Congress
President, Sonia Gandhi, launched her party's election campaign in
the south by seeking a "vote for change" and appealing to the people
to reject the "corrupt and scam-ridden" Government at the Centre.
Addressing a large gathering at Nandyal, the heartland of the
backward Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh, Gandhi described the
BJP-led NDA Government as the "most corrupt-ever, dogged by the
Tehelka, the UTI and petrol bunk scams." In contrast, the Congress
had long years of experience in running the government effectively
and cared for every single section of the population, especially the
poor, she said.